Graphic by Mairead Brogan (made with Canva)
Boulder County health officials voted unanimously Monday night to drop their mask mandate, becoming one of the last counties in the state to drop the requirement.
Effective this Friday at 5 p.m., masks will no longer be required in indoor spaces or schools, including for K-12 students and children under five.
The move comes as COVID-19 infections have dropped across the county, down from concerning peaks in January.
Boulder County joins the growing list of metro counties like Adams, Arapahoe, Denver, and Jefferson dropping mandates for business and indoor public spaces. Health officials cited the county’s high vaccination rate, 70%, as well as decreased hospitalization and less severe infection as reasons for moving away from the mandate.
The county will now move from a crisis-oriented approach to COVID-19 to regular disease-control measures, officials said.
At this time, the University of Colorado Boulder will continue to require masks in public indoor spaces, including classrooms, regardless of vaccination status, according to their website.
“Our campus is maintaining our mask requirement for the time being to ensure we safeguard the in-person experience by not letting our guard down too soon,” the university’s public health office said in a message to community members.
The office said that it would consider loosening restrictions if the campus sees more community members get a booster shot and if cases continue to fall within the county.
“We express our gratitude for our campus community’s commitment to our COVID-19 protocols as we all strive to do our part to keep our academic and research missions thriving,” the message read.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
Contact CU Independent Breaking News Editor William Oster at William.Oster@colorado.edu.
